In the first of four public meetings to find a solution to the proposed layoffs in the Chesterfield Township Police Department few ideas were given by residents, many of whom have been heard before.

As residents filled one side of the meeting room in the Township Offices, not nearly as many who attended the Feb. 18 meeting to denounce the layoffs, Supervisor Mike Lovelock called the meeting to order. Lovelock said the board would not be making comments; they were only there to listen to resident’s ideas to help close the gap on the department’s $1.9 million budget deficit.

A solution brought up by a few residents is one that has been heard, and tried, before: a millage.

Former Trustee Michele Ficht, resident Robert Audette and a Tiffin Drive resident all said a millage is an option; two though said a sunset clause needs to be added into the language, a provision Chief Bruce Smith said he would be in favor of in the wake of an overwhelming millage defeat last November.

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“There may be a little money you can find, but you’re not going to find $1.9 million,” Ficht said. “We need every officer we have.”

Options mentioned to close the gap on the deficit included concessions and an independent audit. The possibility of an independent audit was brought up earlier this year, but turned down by the board because of cost and other concerns.

After about a handful of people took to the podium, Lovelock closed the meeting.

“We wanted to afford them (the residents) the opportunity to speak their peace, and we did that,” Clerk Cindy Berry said following the meeting.

There were at least a few people known to speak their peace at other township meetings who did not make their way to the podium Thursday. Some of them have been chosen to sit on the Chesterfield Police Layoff Moratorium Work Group.

That body consists of: Chesterfield Township Clerk Cindy Berry; Trustee David Joseph; Trustee Hank Anderson; Sgt. Bard Kersten, a 23-year veteran of the force and the command union representative; officer Brad McNair, a 10-year member of the police department and the union president for the police officers and dispatchers; Tim Brown, a resident and retired member of the Michigan State Police, where he worked for 26 years with experience in K-9 units, crash scene reconstruction and operational needs; Lorraine DeMuynck, a township resident, former member of the township board and current member of the Chesterfield Library Board who was vice president of “Vote Yes on the Police Millage”; Lou Nigro, a retired lieutenant colonel from the Air National Guard and frequent commenter at township board meetings; David Novak, a resident who attends township meetings regularly who works as a program manager for a U.S. defense contractor; Greg Iacobelli, a builder and developer who was building homes in the township before he even became a resident. He cites his expertise as being in market trends, property values, development and finance; Nancy Orewyler, a lifelong Chesterfield resident who is an active community member and has served on several township boards and environmental committees; Lisa Workens, the owner of a local mortgage company, a finance degree holder from Walsh College and a township resident.

This work group will meet on Thursday and April 4 to dwindle down residents’ suggestions further hash out possible action plans. The public is invited to attend these meetings, but will not be allowed to comment. There will also be another meeting on March 29 for residents to listen to, and then comment on, the direction the work group is moving toward.

“I think this is a great cross-section of the community,” Joseph said of the newly formed group.